SafetyDude Safety Tip of the Week
Always read your prescription label
Learn from my mistake......Always double check and read the label of your prescriptions.
The following is a true and embarrassing story that just recently happened to me. After all, I am the one that continually preaches to "read the label of the chemicals before usin them."
What concerns me is that when I tell this story to others I am told of cases of people getting the wrong persons medication, the wrong medication all together, etc.
For about the last year, I have been taking medication for high blood pressure and high cholesterol. The medication appears to be working as the Doctor has kept me on the same pills and dosage for the entire period of time. Two pills in the morning, one at bedtime.
I last saw the Doctor in January, and again got the same script for medication. Went to the local large discount retail Pharmacy to get the prescriptions filled.
Over the past few months, I have been experiencing extreme fatigue, muscle aches and pains, falling asleep with little effort, and general malasie. I put in off to the winter time blues. Those of you whom know me, know how much I just adore the Canadian winter. After all snow is a four letter word in my vocabulary.
Two weeks ago, I noticed that one of the bottles of pills was becoming close to being empty. How could this be? Did they not give me all the pills? I've only been taking the same two pills in the morning and one in the evening.
When I read the bottle label to see how many pills I got, and if I could get a refill, I noticed that the label states...."Take half a pill daily".
After consulting my Doctor and investigating the matter with the local Pharmacy, I learned that I should have been taking 12.5mg of the drug. The prescription was for 12.5 mg. But the Pharmacy didn't have the dosage so they replaced it with the 25mg dosage pill. They claimed they told me, but I clearly was not told of the change.
There are serious side effects associated with this medication inclusive of all the signs and symptoms that I have been experiencing. And much worse.
After correcting the dosage that I had been taking, everything has returned to normal. I consider myself lucky as my research leads me to belive that overdosing on this particular medication can be very serious.
So learn from my mistake..........Always double check and read the label of your prescriptions.
From the Courts
A Large retail grocer, was fined $350,000 last week for a violation of the Occupational Health and Safety Act that caused a young worker's death.
In August of 2009, at the one of this company's stores in Mississauga, a young worker was helping the assistant store manager clear materials from the top of a cooler beside the meat department. The meat department was covered by a drop ceiling made up of acoustic tiles. The drop ceiling was accessible from the top of the cooler but it was not meant to be weight-bearing.
While removing materials from the top of the cooler, the assistant store manager indicated that a box needed to be removed from on top of the drop ceiling. The young worker stepped onto the drop ceiling to remove the box and fell through. The young worker suffered a fatal head injury.
A Ministry of Labour investigation found that there was no guardrail separating the drop ceiling from the area above the cooler.
The Company pleaded guilty to failing to ensure that a guardrail was in place to prevent workers from accessing the drop ceiling.
Picture of the Week
OOPs! I forgot to do my Pre-Use Inspection.
